With the long-awaited canonisation of Dun Gorg Preca as Malta’s first saint just around the corner, Lombard Bank, Maltapost and MUSEUM yesterday issued individual sets of commemorative coins, medals, stamps and replica silver stamps.

Lombard Bank gave details of the initiatives of the three commemorative issues undertaken jointly with the Society of Christian Doctrine (MUSEUM) and Maltapost.

For the first time, Maltapost’s Philatelic Bureau is issuing a silver replica of a Malta postage stamp issued to mark the event. The silver replica issue is limited to a maximum of 2,000 pieces, individually numbered, cased and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. The issue will be the first in a line for Maltapost, which plans marking such monumental events from time to time by reproducing, in silver, a selected Malta postage stamp.

Maltapost has also commissioned a further three replica stamps in solid gold – one to be presented to Pope Benedict XVI, another for its own collection and a third that will be donated to The Malta Community Chest Fund to be offered for sale to the public.

Lombard Bank, meanwhile, yesterday launched its fourth silver ingot – following previous issues marking Malta’s EU accession, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta and the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio’s arrival in Malta.

The Lombard silver ingots commemorating the canonisation of Dun Gorg will be a limited edition of 2,000 pieces. Each ingot is individually numbered and assay-marked and comes in a presentation box together with a signed certificate of authenticity. A booklet about Dun Gorg accompanies each ingot.

Lombard will also be minting three gold coins of the edition – one to be presented to Pope Benedict XVI, one for the bank’s collection, and a third to be donated to The Malta Community Chest Fund to be offered for sale to the public.

MUSEUM has commissioned the production of 2,000 silver medals, each weighing one ounce of fine silver. The obverse depicts an image of Dun Gorg and the reverse reproduces the emblem of the society with the words “Verbum Dei Caro Factum Est” (“The Word of God was made Flesh”). Some 1,100 such medals have already been ordered.

All the issues have been struck in Switzerland to a design by Edward D. Pirotta. Orders can be made through the respective organisations, as of yesterday, or through the www.maltacoins.com website.